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Banned Professor Settles
By Gwendolyn Bradley
The University of Hawaii at Manoa this summer reached a settlement with professor Michael D’Andrea, a tenured professor in the Department of Counselor Education, who sued the university after he had been banned from campus last March and forbidden to speak to faculty members, staff, and current or former students in the College of Education. D’Andrea was banned by a former interim chancellor who placed him under suspension for having allegedly engaged in “intimidating, hostile, and bullying behavior.” But D’Andrea denied such behavior and said he had fallen into disfavor because of numerous grievances he has filed against the administration and because of his vocal opposition to the war in Iraq and to a navy research center on campus.
The university paid $30,000 for attorneys’ fees and court costs to dismiss the suit and agreed to “be more careful in issuing restrictions regarding university employee contact and access to the university’s facilities.” D’Andrea is still suspended from his job with pay. He can now talk to faculty, staff, and students who want to speak with him and can go onto campus, although not to the College of Education. According to the university’s outside counsel, the issue of D’Andrea’s continued employment will now move to arbitration.
After being banned, D’Andrea turned to the AAUP, which wrote to the administration to convey its concerns about issues of academic due process posed by his situation. “Although the reversal of the ban from campus is a welcome development,” says B. Robert Kreiser, AAUP senior program officer, “the Association will continue to monitor the case while Professor D’Andrea’s suspension and potential dismissal are still pending.”
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